Make It

Setting Goals: Week 3

So the day is not over yet but here are my Etsy stats from the past week.
Week 1: 57 sales, (forgot to log my # of hearts)
Week 2: 60 sales, 812 hearts
Week 3: 68 sales, 894 hearts

The week started out slow but I got a few orders in the past few days, thanks to the Black Pearl Press papers which have been very popular. (BTW, my sales figures are total sales, not weekly sales. I wish!)

I purchased two spots in the Etsy Gift Wrap Showcase this Monday and Wednesday. I don't believe those lead directly to sales but it certainly increased my visibility and garnered lots of hearts. Also this week I found my products turning up in several places on Etsy including two Storque articles and a few products in the Etsy Gift Guides (some screen grabs are above and below). As a result, I think my Showcase may have been most succesful in raising my profile within Etsy.

One of my goals for my business is to build a strong brand. When people think bold colorful patterned paper goods (and eventually fabric goods) I want them to think Rifferaff. When I think screenprinted ties, I think Toybreaker and when I think  of well made, sophisticated bags, I think of Moop. So inclusion into the several articles and gift guides (curated by Etsy staff) means I'm making headway in defining my brand.

Introducing the new Black Pearl Press papers this week freshened up my shop with some new patterns and gave me a new product to market to blogs. In the upcoming week I'll introduce new BPP papers and new colors of Rifferaff patterns, plus I'll continue to work on my patterned envelopes.

What have you done for your shop in the last week?

Patterned paper bags

I got this idea from this item in Celeste Frittata's Etsy shop.
I took a paper bag apart to get an idea of how it was constructed and then made a few of my own out of patterned paper. I think I will create a stash to bring to the Shadow Fair and use them to package shoppers' purchases of cards and journals.

Thanks NOTCOT!

Thanks Jude for noting in the comments section a few posts down that the papers from the Black Pearl Press collaboration have made it to NOTCOT! By the way Jude has a very interesting blog all about using open source graphic design programs, including my favorite, GIMP (a free Photoshop-like program).

Thanks to the SCOOP!

It was pure coincidence yesterday that shortly after printing Dots in the new orange colorway, I visited the SCOOP and saw Emily had posted a few orange themed items. So I sent her an email with a link to my new papers and she was kind enough to write up a little post on Rifferaff today! Thanks Emily and OrangeBeautiful!

In other news, I'm still making envelopes, here's the latest pile. Check in tomorrow for my weekly update on how my Etsy shop is doing. I bought two spots in the Etsy Gift Wrap Showcase this week and I'll tell you how my experience was with that as well.

Loving orange and white together

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic response to the papers below! Elisabeth should be reopening her online store soon so you can see more of her work. I had alot of fun brainstorming the color combinations. At this point I'm just using up extra blank papers I already have in my studio, so I had to get creative and use what was in front of me. More patterns from this collaboration to come in the upcoming weeks.

Meanwhile I printed Dots on Orange. Orange doesn't seem to get much respect in the design world but I think it can be quite sophisticated and unexpected. I also created a bunch of envelopes in this color, which I am loving. Gift wrap available in my shop, envelopes I'm saving for a future project.

Limited Edition Collaboration

Thank you Chelsea for the nice blog mention on Frolic! I know she's going to love these new papers because it's a collabo with our fave letterpress printer: Elisabeth of Black Pearl Press. A very small limited edition of papers designed by Elisabeth and printed by me will be available this holiday season only in my shop. Here's the first batch.

Work in Progress

I made a few patterned envelopes last year and I love the look of them but I quickly tired of folding and cutting and gluing every single one. I'm a bit more handy with an X-acto these days so I thought I'd try it again. I really like the results, though I still find the process of making them tedious. I'm not sure yet what to do with these so I'm just building an inventory for now.

Don't forget to Vote

I've entered a few designs into the latest Minted contest. Every other month or so, they have a contest for anyone to submit designs to be sold on their site. This one was for a spring wedding invitation in shades of green only. The winner gets a check and a feature in a wedding magazine!

Anyone can enter these contests and it's a great way to work on creating design work for a client. It's quite fun to click around and see who else has entered. You'll probably see submissions from some of your favorite stationery designers. Click over and vote for me if you like what you see. Click on the pictures to link to their respective listings. More details about Minted and their upcoming contest here.

Setting Goals: Week 2

Week 1: 57 sales, (forgot to log my # of hearts)
Week 2: 60 sales, 812 hearts

One week ago I wrote about the goals I'm setting for my Etsy shop this holiday season. Every Friday for the rest of the year, I'll update you on my progress and keep a running tally of my sales and the number of people who "heart" my shop. The goal is 100 sales by January 1 (and 1,000 hearts). Can I do it?!

I've continued to update about 5 times a day, though less frequently on weekends, those don't seem to be as active as the work week. I also purchased two spots in an Etsy showcase spotlighting gift wrap and holiday items on the front page.

I signed up for a 15-day free trial period on iContact, an email service recommended by Jena in her latest Modish Marketing column. I'll use the free trial service to send out my email newsletter to family and friends and then decide if I want to stay on as a paying customer.

I'm organizing my inventory and listing things like gift tags and scrap packs that I made long ago and have been tucked away in boxes since I moved.

What did you do in the past week to promote your shop and prep for the holiday season?

Stepping outside the bubble

I really loved today's decor8 post on how Holly is able to live in two countries and furnish a new apartment in our current economy. I love it when bloggers' write frankly and openly about what's going on in their lives. I think I just like for them to acknowledge that a world exists outside of their own home or their little bubble of the Internet. This sort of happened the other day in this Design Sponge post about an Obama poster. The comments got heated and political (but I secretly love that).

It's important that blogs be a way to escape, look at pretty things, interact virtually with likeminded people. But I think it's unrealistic to think that the people behind the blogs don't have their own struggles and opinions on a variety of matters that all of us are thinking about as well. It's only natural this would somehow get expressed on their blog, and I think that's ok. I've got serious issues with things happening in this election and am also still looking for a j-o-b and figuring out how to make things work in my new city. I'll occasionally allude to those things here, but it's not the focus of this space. But that's what separates blogs from magazines and print media. You have a direct link to one writer's personal opinion. Kudos to Holly for acknowledging the issue of her finances and providing some very personal and practical suggestions for how she's able to live the lifestyle she does.

(image of Holly's German apartment via Decor8)